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From Our Blog Archives
Let’s Cook Together
Wed, January 09, 2008
from Shannon
There is something incredible happening here in Denver. A group of 12 women, busy with motherhood, careers, and the big and little of life’s challenges, are cooking together in teams of two or three. It all started when my closest friend from high school, Alison Bermack, told me about the fun she was having with her friends in New Jersey making soups, granola, chicken and many other foods…
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Welcome to Cooking With Friends
Thu, January 10, 2008
from Alison
I’ve been cooking with my friends now for about eight years. It’s hard to believe how fast the time has flown by. It has carried me gently through the years as an activity that not only enables me to get food on the family dinner table, but has also helped blossom my relationships with friends…
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When Your Cooking Friend Thinks of You
Sat, January 12, 2008
from Alison
Yesterday, my dumpling making pal, Christina, called to say that she was heading out to the Asian market. She offered to get me some dumpling wrappers. I immediately accepted, but then declined since the wrappers really should be used in the next day or two and I was heading out of town for a few days. This small incident may seem insignificant to some, but it highlights a fairly important aspect of Cooking with Friends.
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Snow Day
Sun, January 13, 2008
from Shannon
It’s been snowing all day here. It reminds me of last winter when we were snowbound for days but kept coming up with something interesting to eat, thanks to a well-stocked pantry, and a mix of creativity and desperation. Today, there’s not much in the fridge for dinner and we don’t want to brave the roads. But I did have some delicious lumpmeat crab leftover from making crabcakes a few days before. So we’ve made a hearty Crab Chowder…
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Communal Dumpling Making and more—A NYC Culinary Adventure
Mon, January 14, 2008
from Alison
This past weekend, with my family in tow (three kids, a husband and my parents), I set off on one of our favorite New York City culinary adventures—The East Village. It’s like junking it on the boardwalk but city style. We started with a sampling of Belgian French fries at Pomme Frites on 2nd Avenue, near 6th Street. Their crispy, golden fries, served in a paper cone with the house Irish Curry sauce (one of about a hundred sauces from which to choose) are out of this world!
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Sweet Curry
Wed, January 16, 2008
from Alison
I often talk about what it’s like to cook with someone you’ve never cooked with before. I compare it to dating. And it really is like that. Long before I met Alma, I felt like I already knew her. Mutual friends would talk about Alma—her cooking, her home made recipe books, her words of kitchen wisdom. So, when I met Alma a few years back, I instantly felt comfortable. During one of our first introductions, she gave me one of her cookbooks as a gift, from one cook to another. This simple gesture, although not an uncommon one for Alma, triggered my desire to cook with her. After all, with her cookbook in my kitchen, there was already a familiarity. And, as with dating, it’s nice to have some background first.
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Assembly Line of Friends
Thu, January 17, 2008
from Shannon
While the phrase “assembly line” may sound cold and predictable, that’s the opposite of the warm feeling for the assembly line day of lasagna making I did with friends Evelyn and Kathy.
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A Helping Hand
Fri, January 18, 2008
from Alison
While rolling balls of cookie dough, the door sensor beeped, and in walked my friend Jackie with her toddler in tow. A casual drop by from a friend led quickly to some unexpected help in the kitchen for me and a spontaneous play date for my little one.
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Jamming in January
Mon, January 21, 2008
from Shannon
My daughter Eve’s 4-year-old hands are just the right size for crushing bright red strawberries with a potato masher.
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Judith Jones Cooks with Friends and Family
Tue, January 22, 2008
from Alison
“Though I am perfectly content cooking alone, I welcome having another body in the kitchen. We all do things a little differently, and we learn from each other. It is also nice to feel like we are passing on our pleasure of cooking to a younger generation, particularly at a time when most kitchens seem to be empty places.” Judith Jones
When I set out to read Judith Jones food memoir, The Tenth Muse, I expected to read about a woman whose incredible life has been shaped by her devotion to food. Even though I can be a bit absorbed with cooking with others, I never expected to discover how prevalent it was in Ms. Jones life as well.
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Spaghetti Time
Wed, January 23, 2008
from Shannon
Last night, my friend Christine invited four of us and our kids to stay for spaghetti after a playgroup at her house.
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Steady Now
Thu, January 24, 2008
from Alison
Home with a sick two year old, I make chicken soup alone. Assembling ingredients; two chickens, some carrots, onions and parsley tossed in the pots, and then off to nurse my sad little boy. Soon enough, the bubbling, simmering soup fills the house with therapeutic aromas of my childhood, a chicken soup tradition born generations and generations ago.
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A Cooking Year Ahead
Fri, January 25, 2008
from Shannon
Our Denver group met last night for the first group Cooking With Friends of the year--Jamming in January.
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Glorious Garam Masala
Mon, January 28, 2008
from Shannon
A certain smell can instantly bring me back to a singular moment, or a period of time. I may someday think back to this time of my life when I smell Garam Masala, a spice blend I’ve been trying out often these days--in Tikka Masala, on roasted chicken, mixed in vegetables and in a sauce for fish.
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A Souper Tradition
Tue, January 29, 2008
from Alison
Traditions with friends are great. When they’re for a special cause, they are even better. Add cooking and they can’t be beat. My friends, Emily and Christina, and I got together the other day and, for the second year in a row, made soup for a Cooking with Friends Club event called the “Souper Bowl,” where members get together and make soup for a local food pantry.
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Dreaming of Spring
Wed, January 30, 2008
from Shannon
On chilly nights, I love to read my seed catalogs. They are starting to come in the mail, full of sun and promise on winter days.
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Lots of Little Hands
Thu, January 31, 2008
from Alison
With all of the excitement in our house getting ready for the “Souper Bowl” – our freezers so stuffed with quarts and quarts of soup that the doors barely close - it was only natural for my seven year daughter to want in. That’s why five little friends and ten little hands chopped vegetables, snapped beans and stirred soup together in my kitchen.
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